Thursday, October 31, 2013

Jose Baez tripped, stumbled, and fell into the Casey Anthony verdict in spite of his lack of talent and inability to be truthful, or even to keep track of his deceptive answers. He is now back in the news and, as before, he struggles to remember one statement to the next, giving Statement Analysis students a chance to study him again. She didn't say a "negative thing", said Baez, of his 12 year old client.

Let's see if he is telling the truth.

Jose Baez, the Florida attorney who is representing the 12-year-old girl accused of bullying Rebecca Sedwick, told CBS News' Crimesider his client "never said a single negative thing to Rebecca" and claims she is being "vilified" through the sheriff making his "media rounds."

"I think he is going beyond the scope of his job as a law enforcement officer. His job is to investigate and make arrests," Baez told Crimesider.

One might wonder why "make arrests" is in the vocabulary of a defense attorney in this context.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who presided over the investigation into the case, told Crimesider last week thathe believes Baez, who famously won an acquittal for Casey Anthony, took on the Sedwick case for publicity reasons.

Baez shot down those accusations, saying, "I really don't care what Sheriff Judd has to say. I don't need publicity. This case is smaller than other cases I've handled before."

Note that he only "really" does not care, making care sensitive.

Note the importance of what one says in the negative: here, publicity, the lifeblood of his profession, is not needed.

Note, interestingly enough, that this case is smaller than other "cases", in the plural, that he has handled. Note "handled" and not "tried" nor clients represented.

"I represent people accused of crimes as well as victims of crimes. She falls under both categories," Baez said of his 12-year-old client. "My client has been the victim of bullying in the past and she is currently being bullied by the system."

Baez's client and a 14-year-old girl were arrested Oct. 21 and charged with felony aggravated stalking of Sedwick, who authorities say climbed a tower at an abandoned concrete plant and hurled herself to her death Sept. 9. Both pleaded not guilty Friday.

Judd said that he charged the 12-year-old and 14-year-old with stalking because what they did to Sedwick went beyond bullying into harassment and intimidation.The two girls allegedly encouraged others to fight Sedwick, and sent her electronic messages encouraging her to kill herself.

The department released Facebook chat logs of the two suspects after Rebecca's death.

Baez's client, the 12-year-old, wrote, "I feel like Rebecca's dead because of me. If only I could say I'm sorry."

Later she said, "I deserve to die. I wish it was me and not her."

Baez says he doesn't think his client should be charged with a crime and says his client "never said a single negative thing"to Rebecca. However, Sheriff Judd has publicly claimed authorities have obtained pages of Facebook conversations in which the 12-year-old admits to bullying Rebecca at school and online, according to CBS affiliate WTSP.

Here we have only a partial quote. Baez apparently claimed that the girl did not say a single "negative thing." Was it "said", versus "written"? This is why complete quotes are best. Was it not "said" but "written" to Rebecca?Note that "never" does not mean "did not";note the additional word "single" to add emphasis. Baez is familiar with linguistic gymnastics from his previous experience with Casey Anthony. Please note that Baez did not deny having a romantic relationship with Casey Anthony. If he was unable or unwilling to deny it, we shall not deny it for him. The Sheriff was not pleased and spoke out:

"Mr. Baez, here's my message to you: Get over trying to show she didn't do something she did and start trying to help that child," Judd said in a news conference last week.

One might question the wisdom of Judd saying this in public rather than allowing it to be said in court.

Baez told Crimesider it's unfair that his client is being blamed for someone else taking their life.

"It's very difficult. She's in a grieving process and has been grieving since she heard the news," Baez said. "It's no secret she has been extremely remorseful." Indeed, Sheriff Judd has told multiple media outlets that Baez's client and her parents have shown remorse.

Why would his client be "remorseful" if she said "nothing negative"?

Yet, the client's remorse is made sensitive by the additional word "extremely";

This is an example of Baez inability to follow thought.

Baez says that instead of looking to blame someone for the situation, people need to learn from it.

"What I plan on doing in this case is move away from shifting the blame and actually help people learn from this experience," he said. "At the end of the day, all parties' goals are to turn this horrible tragedy into something positive."

In the previous post, we asked for body language analysis of the mother; in particular, her head shaking and her looking around at the reporters. Here we have a translation of the interview. In using a translation, we step back a bit, and look at the broader picture, knowing we might lose something in translation, therefore, we generalize.

Mother: I send out a call to everyone...all the Clermontois (people who live in Clermontois), all who can help us. It is truly a call for help.. XX .. XX..it is the goal, it is to find Fiona, that's it...and that.. that one really needs some support, some help...It is truly the only thing that I can say.We take careful note of the need to use "truly" as added. Also, the stated purpose is to find Fiona. Why would a mother have the need to state the obvious unless the mother had a need to state the obvious. This is sensitive. Note "really" and "truly" as unnecessary emphasis added to the statement.

Lawyer: Well the investigators, we are no longer dealing with the investigators, XX.. we are dealing with judges. That's the reason we are here (for which we are there) today. We are no longer dealing with investigators. We are dealing with two judges who were designated to rule this affaire, there... the investigators... we no longer witness eh, it is a civil plaintiff, that ...Pronouns are critical. This mother should be using "I" and not "we"; note the use of "we" as well as the repetition of the negative, "no longer dealing with investigators"

Mother: As far as mobilization, it's truly... well, it's good, it is a good thing... I hope, one truly hopes that good... that will be able to help because... well one is faced nevertheless...powerless.. and there, one truly hopes that all research (all the searching)... one tries to have trust in the justice system (trust in justice).Again, notice the need to emphasis with "truly"note also the need to explain why help is needed when a child is missing is unnecessary therefore making it critical.

Mother: Yes.. well as for me being asleep.. and then after it's, well it's upon my awakening,well I have... he was missing my daughter. He was missing my daughter.Something lost in translation; it may be some missing info, here, however, "then, after..."

Mother: Of course, of course!Anyway ( in any event), no matter who sees Fiona, no matter who who has Fiona, and well.. that he brings her back to me, that he brings her back to us, that's all.

"of course" is meant to be accepted without question. The repetition makes it sensitive, but so does the fact that one might have a need to have something so obvious as this expected. Note the change from "brings her back to me" to "us" along with another use of "that's all.""That's all" would mean the end of things once she is brought back home. Is there no call for justice?

Journaliste : Vous étiez à quel endroit dans le parc ?

Journalist: You were in what spot in the park? (What spot in the park were you?)

Mother: well not exactly, I noticed nothing at all. XXXX already, saw my state, and being very tired, I would never have imagined that well, that it would have happened that, and in some blows (or suddenly) well???, when one is faced with that, one understands nothing about what is happening...and there it is... the only thing is to bring back Fiona, that's all, after the rest... there is nothing important... there is to find her.

Mother: yes, of course, of course... well it's a girl who loves life, who loves people, who is sociable, who uh... well there are no worries that, she is... one can ask anyone, she is always smiling. Even someone who says hello to her, she replies, she...well...that's a little girl full of life, full of life...a little 5 year old girl.

Mother: well it's very, very hard/difficult...after a blow (some blows), well compared to my pregnancy and then... well my other daughter, one has no choice, well to ensure to continue life a little... especially for the little one (girl) and for my baby because just the same I still have lots of contractions, I don't want to have a miscarriage or anything so...but must deal with it, it's truly not easy.Note that "one" or in English, "you", rather than "I", which is then changed to the pronoun "I" later in the statement, regarding contractions. Note that "continue life" is a very strange use of "life" when speaking of a missing child and not a dead child. the emphasis again with "truly"

This week, after four months of painstaking searches by police and volunteers, hundreds of false leads, repeated interviews with Bourgeon and her family, and an enormous groundswell of sympathy from the French people, the mother made a shocking confession.

Late on Wednesday night, after two days of intense grilling from police in the south-western city of Perpignan, where she now lives, Bourgeon appears to have finally cracked, and began telling investigators what appears to be the truth.

Her daughter Fiona never in fact went missing. That fateful trip to the park never even took place and Bourgeon never had any hope of finding her, because Fiona was dead, and she hid her body herself.

Five-year-old Fiona. Photo: AFP/Clermont-Ferrand police.

What happened to Fiona?

As of Thursday we still don’t know, because the little girl’s body hasn’t been found yet. According to her lawyer, Bourgeon told interrogators that her boyfriend, Berkane Maklouf, had beaten Fiona to death in a drunken rage.

But Maklouf has offered a different version of events. He says the pair had woken one morning in May to find that Fiona had choked on her own vomit.

According to lawyers both Bourgeon and Maklouf admit they found Fiona dead in her bed one morning and that, panicking, disposed of her body.

Bourgeon reportedly told police this week that the couple had stuffed Fiona’s naked body into a leather bag, which they placed in the boot of their car.

With Fiona’s baby sister Eva in the back seat, the couple drove out to a wooded area on the outskirts of Clermont-Ferrand.

When they arrived there, Bourgeon claims she stayed in the vehicle with Eva, while Maklouf carried Fiona’s corpse to a spot on the fringes of the forest, dug a hole, and buried her naked body there.

What did Bourgeon do next?

In short, she lied and carried on lying. At 6.45pm on Sunday, May 12th, Bourgeon reported Fiona missing. She told them she had been at Montjuzet park in Clermont-Ferrand, with her two daughters.

She claimed she had fallen asleep on a park bench for 15 minutes, and when she awoke, Fiona was gone.

"She was pretty tired because she’s six months pregnant,” said local prosecutor Pierre Sennes at the time.

Police helped Bourgeon launch a massive public appeal for information, including a dedicated phone number, and dozens of police officers, soldiers and firemen combed the 26-hectare park for clues, while a helicopter fitted with a thermal imaging camera circled above them.

It was all to no avail.

While she waited in the car, Bourgeon's boyfriend buried Fiona naked in a forest. Bourgeon then launched an emotional appeal for help and a nationwide search. Photo: Yuki Akachan/Youtube

How has Bourgeon behaved in public?

She’s been really persuasive, to be honest. Which is one of the main reasons why there has been such a flood of hatred and anger towards her in the last 24 hours.

On May 16th, Bourgeon appeared before French media, tearfully asking the French nation for help in finding her daughter.

“I think about everything and nothing in particular. This is very hard, psychologically," she said in a separate interview. Here is a short video of first national television appearance (in French.)